Facsimile machines, commonly referred to as fax machines, have become a ubiquitous piece of equipment in offices and office and mail service environments around the world. Automatic paper and letter folding machines co-exist with fax machines in some environments. However, fax and paper folding machines co-exist independently in such environments.
Currently, if one were to receive a fax document that subsequently needs to be processed in some manner entailing folding, the received document requires either manual folding or manual movement from the fax output box or tray to a paper folding machine. Manual movement may entail a hand-carry or perhaps a conveyor between the two machines. For example, it may be desirable to mail a received fax document to a postal recipient, whereby the document might require folding and insertion into an envelope for mailing.
The folding process may be performed manually, or automatically via a folding machine. Regardless of the folding process, at least one step is involved in transferring the document from the fax machine to a folding mechanism. If utilizing a folding machine, additional steps may be required to program the machine to specify a desired manner of folding. For example, a paper may be folded in the following manners: bi-fold, letter fold, accordion fold, brochure fold, double fold, french fold, etc.
In bulk or mass distribution scenarios, a third party such as a mailing or office service provider may provide the service of folding papers, stuffing envelopes and mailing distributions. In such a scenario, the service provider would either (1) receive a single fax of a document with directions as to whom it should be mailed, whereupon the provider would copy, fold, stuff and mail multiple copies, with or without the assistance of a folding machine; or (2) receive multiple fax copies of a document, whereupon the provider would fold, stuff and mail the copies. In either case, the folding task may be performed manually or with the assistance of a folding machine.
In the foregoing scenarios, a mailing or office service provider may utilize an inserting machine for inserting the folded sheets of paper into envelopes prior to mailing. Inserting machines are separate stand-alone machines that are not physically or functionally integrated with a fax machine or a folding machine.
Currently, there are no known machines that integrate facsimile and folding functionalities. Furthermore, there are no known machines that integrate facsimile, folding and/or inserting functionalities.
Hence, based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for folding functionality in fax machines.